The reason why the wind turbines aren’t turning

After weeks of sitting idle, the wind turbines east of Idaho Falls will soon be back up and running.

BP Wind Energy told KIFI/KIDK the turbines at the Goshen North Wind Farm have been offline since late August, when a transmission line was burnt during the Henrys Creek fire. BP said it hopes to have the turbines turning by mid-November.

“With safety as our top priority, we are working to complete repairs as soon as possible,” said Brett Clanton, BP spokesperson.

Dozens of people have called the KIDK/KIFI newsroom over the past several weeks about the lack of energy being produced at the wind farm. Our staff has been working to get the answer since September, but have continually run into roadblocks, the biggest a question about who owns the facility.

According to public records, the Goshen North Wind Farm is co-owned by Diamond Generating out of Los Angeles. We repeatedly tried to get an answer from them but never received a callback. The Bonneville County Assessor said the other owner of the wind farm is Ridgeline Energy, LLC, which is listed as being a part of Veolia Environment. KIFI/KIDK was told by a Veolia Environment spokesperson that Ridgeline Energy, LLC, is now owned by Atlantic Power, which purchased it in 2012.

So how does BP Wind Energy come into play?

“BP Wind Energy is the operating partner of Goshen North wind farm,” Clanton said. “Situated on about 11,000 acres in Bonneville County, just east of Idaho Falls, Goshen’s 83 wind turbines can generate up to 124.5 MW of electricity. This is enough to power about 33,000 average homes annually.”

The energy produced by the Goshen North Wind Farm is then distributed to a company out of California,
Southern California Edison

SunEdison is currently being sued by hundreds of creditors, after filing for bankruptcy.